Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto Newsletter, Rāpare (Thursday) 10 November 2022

Posted on by

Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

I hope that you are all enjoying the long weekend. 

Attendance Matters

You will probably have heard a discussion on the news this past week about the declining school attendance rates of NZ students, both in the primary and secondary sectors. This conversation was prompted by the release of a report by the Education Review Office this week, and you can read the summary or the full report here.
Regular attendance (90% or more) at school is something that we want to see for all of our tamariki.

Please do look carefully at your child's attendance when you get their report next week. 'Regular attendance' is classed as being 90% or more. We know that there can be specific reasons why a child's attendance may drop from time to time including illness and, this year, Covid being very likely reasons. However, when average, yearly attendance drops below 90% year after year, this has a significant impact on your child's ability to access the education they deserve and are entitled to get.
  • If a student has an average of 90% attendance, over ten years they will miss a year of school.
  • If a student has an average of 80% attendance, over five years they will miss a year of school.
  • If a student has an average of 75% attendance, they are missing a term of school each year.
  • Being at school every day matters because of the sequential nature of learning, especially in literacy and numeracy.
  • By law, students must attend school.
  • One of the highest predictors of education success is attendance levels at school.
We know that every family wants their children to be successful in learning and in life. As whānau, you play a huge role in ensuring your child attends school regularly.  If you have concerns about your child's attendance, or would like to discuss ways that we can support you to improve your child's attendance, please make contact with your child's teacher and we will be happy to meet with you.

Upcoming Roadworks - closure of Sandwich Road...

From Tuesday 15 November the intersection of Sandwich Road and Norwood Street will be closed for roadworks. This is likely for the remainder of this term.

Vehicle entry into Sandwich Road, from Eastern Tce, will be for residents, school staff, and those with accessibility needs.

To help keep the traffic flowing as easily as possible at school drop-off and pick-up times, there will be two drop-and-go zones on Eastern Terrace, on either side of Sandwich Road. The map below also highlights other areas near the school that would make good drop-off places if you usually drive children to school where you could park and walk or, for older children, drop them off.

Pedestrian access will still be available from both ends of Sandwich Road.

We encourage whānau over the coming weeks to walk or bike to school as much as possible. Alternatively, park on Fisher or Martin Ave and walk to school.

Seipp Construction Ltd is aware of the changes this will have to morning and afternoon routines. To thank the school community for their patience and understanding they are providing a prize draw next week. Everyone who walks some or all of the way to school will receive a token to go into the draw for a prize. 

The following week Seipp Construction Ltd will be providing spot prizes to be given out at the school entrances to people who are walking, scootering or biking. 

Please see the map below and the attached information from Seipp Construction Ltd.


End-of-Year Reports

These are being proof-read at the moment and we expect to publish these through HERO this coming Friday, 18 November. 

Reminder - school closes at 1pm this Thursday 17 November

Our teachers are expected to attend a paid union meeting this coming week, along with all of the other teachers in Christchurch. Due to us having almost 100% union membership, finishing at 1m on Thursday 17th will allow them all to attend at the same time; the most workable option with releivers also attending the meetings. 

Year 7/8 students are on a trip that day - they will continue with that and return to school for the usual 3pm finish. The Y7/8 teachers have the option of attending another meeting. 

If you have a student in NE-Year 6 who:
  • needs to stay at school after 1pm on Thursday, OR 
  • is being collected by someone else, OR 
  • is going to BOSCO, OR
  • you give permission to travel home independently...
...please fill in this survey so that we know which children are not being collected by you. We will provide supervision for those who are staying at school until the usual pick-up time of 3pm. 

Whole School Picnic and Kapa Haka Performances Wed 30 Nov

On Wednesday 30 Nov, from 5pm, we invite you all to attend a school picnic which will then be followed by three kapa haka performances. (NB if the weather is wet, the picnic will be cancelled but the kapa haka performances will continue as outlined below)

Everyone is welcome to attend all of the kapa haka performances and, we have scheduled each group in it's own time slot, so that families can just attend the one that their child is in if that works better for them. We also know that our hall can't accommodate everyone if we run a single concert with all of the groups performing! Each groups' performance will run for approximately 20 mins

The timetable for evenng will be:

5pm onwards - Whānau Picnic in front of the Admin area and beside the hall. The Student Council will be runing some activities for children, using games that the PTA had made for the school fair 2 years ago!

 6pm - Year 3/4 Kapa Haka group performance

 6:30pm Year Y5/6 Kapa Haka group performance

7:00pm Te Whānau Mahi Tahi kapa haka performance

Ngā mihi nui
Sandy Hastings
Tumuaki (Principal)

Important Dates

Thu 17 Nov - School finishing early at 1pm (Union meetings)
Thu 17 Nov - BOT Meeting (5.30 - 7.30pm - Rūma Kaimahi/Staffroom)
Fri 18 Nov - Celebration Assembly (10 - 10.30am)
Fri 18 Nov - Student Council Dress Up Day (PJs or as a teacher)
Wed 23 Nov - PTA Meeting (7.30 - 9.30pm - Green Room)
Fri 25 Nov - Celebration Assembly (10 - 10.30am)
Wed 30 Nov - Whole School Picnic and Kapa Haka performances (see info above)
Fri 2 Dec - Celebration Assembly (10 - 10.30am)
Thu 8 Dec - BOT Meeting (5.30 - 7.50pm - Rūma Kaimahi/Staffroom)
Fri 9 Dec - Final Celebration Assembly (9.45 - 10.30am)
Wed 14 Dec - Year 8 Leavers Graduation - 11am-12noon, followed by Leavers' Lunch
Thu 15 Dec - Last day of Term 4 - School closes at 12:30pm

Term Dates

Kahikatea News Term 4, Week 3

Posted on by

Kia ora e te whānau,

Our huge highlight this week has been swimming! We are so proud of our tamariki showing our kete values, 'We Love Challenge' and 'We Love Learning'. They have also demonstrated our key competencies of 'managing self' and 'participating and contributing'. Each day the changing process has become faster and lost property is becoming slightly less!

The focus of our swimming lessons has been on safety in the water:


For some of our tamariki, swimming has been a new experience that was initially a little scary. A VERY exciting comment heard from one of our learners was: "Look at me, I'm doing bubbles in the water and it's only my third day in the pool!!"

Thanks again to our wonderful parent helpers, for supporting our learners at the pool.

Here are some photo highlights from the week:


































Have a lovely weekend. We look forward to four more days of swimming next week and Canterbury Show Day on Friday.

Ngā mihi nui,
Team Kahikatea

Katie McFarlane 
katie.mcfarlane@beckenham.school.nz

Emma Hayes-Smith
emma.hayes-smith@beckenham.school.nz

Krystal Hunt
krystal.hunt@beckenham.school.nz

Megan Harris
megan.harris@beckenham.school.nz

Lisa Collier
lisa.collier@beckenham.school.nz










Koru Team News, Term 4 Week 3

Posted on by
Kia ora e te whānau,

We have had a busy first few weeks of the term! We all had fun practising for, and then participating in, the school Athletics Day. We loved seeing the Koru children displaying our school values, 'We Love Challenge' and 'We Get There Together', as they challenged themselves, and supported their friends by cheering them on at each event.













Our Learning Through Play focus, for this fortnight, is 'Habitats', for bugs, birds, and animals. We have been talking about different types of habitats and thinking about how we can create some in our garden spaces at school. We would love to make some more bug hotels, so if you have any plastic bottles destined for your recycling bin, please send them along to school instead. 

Creating a bug hotel out of an old plant pot.

We were lucky enough to have a parent come in to help the children plant some Little Garden packs. 

We are amazed at how fast they have grown already!

This week we have been exploring a science topic called 'A Load of Rubbish'. We sorted through the contents of a recycling bin, looking at the different materials that items were made out of. We looked closely at the recycling numbers on plastics, explored the density of different plastics, and explored ways to reduce food wastage.









On Thursday, we all enjoyed our first House Games session. The house captains of each house did an amazing job of teaching us some new, and some well-loved, games. It was lots of fun, and we are already looking forward to our next house games!





We are so proud of our tamariki performing in yesterday's Celebration Assembly! They all did an amazing job, singing, and doing the actions to the songs, in their first ever assembly performance.




Reminders:
  • Your child needs a named hat at school each day.
  • When arriving and leaving school each day, we ask that you do not walk your child through the carpark area. Many thanks for your support with this.
  • Please send your child to school with sunscreen on, and we will help the children to reapply before their big playtime.
  • Next Friday, 11 November, the school will be closed for Canterbury Anniversary Day. This also means we'll be missing our library time. Children are welcome to bring their books to school and change them during lunchtime next week, if they wish.
  • The children have been enjoying using the very cool water pump in our sandpit, especially in this beautiful weather we have been having. Having a change of clothes in their bags would be useful for those days when the water is flowing!

We hope you all have a safe, happy, and relaxing weekend and we can't wait to see you all back at school on Monday!

Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou,

Elizabeth, Nicola, Georgia, Tracey, Stacey and Jeanette









Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto Newsletter Rāmere (Friday) 4 November 2022

Posted on by

Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

What an amazing week we have had...
  • Kahikatea and Kōwhai have been at swimming lessons each day.  The team at Pioneer Stadium have been extremely well organised and responsive to the needs of our tamariki.
  • Our first House Games - incredible leadership and organisation by our Year 7 and 8 Students.
  • Cashmere High School visiting with our Kauri hub teaching team to plan Year 8 transitions to High School and share information.
  • Our return to whole school assemblies also saw the presentation of the first of the Senior cups and a packed audience to watch our Koru team perform three Kapahaka items.  Lots of camera clicks, filming and smiles in the audience.  Thanks to Whaea Cath and the Koru team for all the work involved in getting these gorgeous tamariki ready to perform.  Thank you to the parents who sent us feedback - we appreciate your words and time.
"My mum and I came to the celebration assembly today to see my little girl and all the other gorgeous little ones sing, and to see her get her first certificate! I just wanted to say how blown away I was by the assembly, the mana and energy was so high and I just loved hearing and seeing all the cheering and high fives for people getting awards. It's so cool to see children altogether and so keen, but then also quickly regulated and calm when they needed to be. Anyway, I just wanted to share that with you! Have a wonderful weekend."

A huge thanks also goes to the parents who helped with the whole School Athletics last week.  Your support is invaluable.  We were especially struck by the group of Junior School parents who came early or stayed to help with the Senior Sports events.  Thank you for living our school values and showing our tamariki how we all get there together, care and make a difference.  He rawe koutou!

Ngā mihi nui
Sue and Jo
Tumuaki Tuarua (Deputy Principals)

Important Dates

Fri 11 Nov - Canterbury Anniversary Day - (School Closed)
Thu 17 Nov - School finishing early at 1pm (Union meetings)
Thu 17 Nov - BOT Meeting (5.30 - 7.30pm - Rūma Kaimahi)
Fri 18 Nov - Celebration Assembly (10 - 10.30am)
Wed 23 Nov - PTA Meeting (7.30 - 9.30pm - Green Room)
Fri 25 Nov - Celebration Assembly (10 - 10.30am)
Fri 2 Dec - Celebration Assembly (10 - 10.30am)
Thu 8 Dec - BOT Meeting (5.30 - 7.50pm - Rūma Kaimahi)
Fri 9 Dec - Final Assembly (9.45 - 10.30am)
Thu 15 Dec - Last day of Term 4 - School closes at 12:30pm

Term Dates

Citizen of the Week

Jenna Sitompul - Year 7

Jenna, you are such an eager and happy student in the Kauri hub. You always show up on time to Student Council meetings which displays your reliability. Every day, you give all tasks your very best and you are so efficient at completing jobs and assignments. You show our school value, 'We Care' in all you do. You are helpful, kind and caring Jenna. Ka pai!

School Notices

Staffing update for 2023

As you will be aware, we have been working hard in the background these past couple of months organisng our staffing for 2023. 
Bearing in mind that there could still be changes between now and the start of 2023, this is our current teaching plan for next year:

Koru Team
Elizabeth Drummond - co-Team Leader
Stacey McLachlan - co-Team Leader
Georgia McKenna 

Kāhikatea Team
Amber Donovan - Team Leader
Katie McFarlane
Krystal Hunt
Lisa Collier 
Quynh Nguyen  (3.5 days)

Kōwhai Team (Year 3/4)
Anna Reid - Team Leader
Nick BruceRowena Barker
Charlotte Verity
\Anna McNeill
Quynh Nguyen (1.5 days)

Pōhutukawa Team (Year 5/6)
Steve Cooke - Team Leader
Gayle McNaughton
Rae Marsh
Megan Culver
Georgie Jones (part-time)

Kauri Team (Year 7/8)
Thomas Woodfield - Team Leader
Sarah Junghenn (Terms 1/2) & Jenny Diggle (Terms 3/4)
Bridie Zarifeh
Nicky Dunlop 
Thomas will be joining the team from his current role as a teacher in the Year 7/8 team at Cashmere Primary. Thomas has been teaching for 9 years, both in Auckland and in Christchurch. Bridie has been teaching for 6 years and will be moving to Chch from her current position at St Josephs's School in New Plymouth. Sarah (who has been working part-time in our Year 7/8 team this year) will be stepping in for Jenny in Terms 1 & 2 as Jenny will be taking refreshment leave and doing some travelling. Jenny will be back in Term 3. Nicky has decided to step down as team leader. Caitlin is moving to Ashburton at the end of the year and has secured a job at Ashburton Intermediate.

Dress Up Day

Kia ora e te whānau, 

On Friday the 18th of November the student council will be holding a pyjama day and "teacher student clothing swap" dress-up day. A T.S.S PJ day. Whether the students want to go all out with wigs and dresses to be dressed up as a teacher from our kura or just laze around in their pajamas, there will be room for all styles. A gold coin donation will be required! Have some fun!

From the Student Council

Community Dental Service

One of our Community Dental Service vans will be making a visit to your school soon.
  • Only the children who currently require a check-up will be seen at this visit.
    Please do not be concerned if your child is not called for a check-up this time.

  • The dental therapist will provide a regular check-up and preventative care which may include:
    - Cleaning/Scaling (to remove plaque from teeth)
    - Dental x-rays (to check for decay in teeth, or presence and position of teeth)
    - Fluoride Varnish (painted on teeth to help prevent decay)
    - Fissure Sealants (coating put on teeth to prevent decay) if required.

  • If your child requires any other dental care, they will bring home a ‘Care Plan’ which will explain what dental care and appointment times are required.

  • When you receive the ‘Care Plan’ please contact our Call Centre as soon as possible as you will need to arrange a time to bring your child to one of our Community Clinics for this dental care.

  • Please contact our Call Centre if you want further information on the Community Dental Service, to enrol your child or if you have any specific questions about your child’s dental care (a dental therapist will call you back)

  • Year 8 students: all year 8 students enrolled with the Community Dental Service are transferred from the Community Dental Service to a FREE private dentist from year 9 until their 18th birthday. To help with this transition please ensure you have informed your child of their family dentist (not orthodontist). This will enable us to transfer your child onto the correct dentist for year 9 onwards. More information will be sent home after their year 8 check-up.
To contact our Call Centre: phone 0800 846 983 / email commdental@cdhb.health.nz

Congratulations to our Y8 Award Winners...

Science Cup: Rowan Hopwood

 Rowan, your love for everything science is amazing! You are in your element when you are studying the unknown and how things work. You question why and how things work and your drive to learn about different science topics is admired. Earning eight science badges and your bronze award is extremely impressive. Your goal to earn two more badges and your silver award by the end of the year is something we have not seen happen on the Kauri team in quite some time. Continue to have that inquisitive mind, experiment,  manipulate variables and discover new things! Congratulations, Rowan.

O'Sullivan Cup for Excellence in Art: Reagan Maule

You always seem to have a drawing pencil in your hand.  You create intricate, well-proportioned, life-like characters that look ready to step off the page and into your fantasy world. You love to share your learning through art and do this in a sophisticated and detailed manner. You applied your digital drawing skills to design the backdrops for our ShowQuest performance. These were outstanding. Thank you for the joy and wonder that your artistic creations bring to others. Congratulations Reagan.

Acknowledgments

We recently received the first issue of a new series of chapter books from the Ministry of Education for students in Year 3.  They are designed to support the transition to reading longer texts and to foster a love of reading.
The first issue we received has a special connection with Beckenham as it has been written by Renata Hopkins, one of our Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto parents.

Ka pai Renata, I'm sure the children will love reading about 'Super Spies' when these get issued to the hubs!

Sports News

Learn to Play Touch

Students from Year 5 - 8 have an opportunity to take part in a 6-week skills-based session learning how to play touch rugby.

These sessions are designed to be an introduction to the sport; no prior experience is required. This is for students who would like to learn basic skills before joining teams that play in competitions.

The sessions will consist of skill teaching, drills, and a casual game at the end focusing on the skill that has been taught. The emphasis is on fun, building confidence, and skill development in a non-competitive environment.

The sessions will run on Wednesday afternoon from 3.15 til 4.15 at Beckenham Park. Students will need to bring a drink bottle and wear their hats. If your child has any individual medication such as an asthma inhaler, they should have this with them at every session. 

Adult help is desperately needed - this ranges from just helping to get students into age groups and starting drills to taking mini-games and working with small groups. All help is gratefully accepted; there is no previous experience required for this either!

The first session will be Wednesday 9th November and run every week until Wed 14th Dec. 

If it is wet, a decision will be made by 2pm. School and caregivers will be notified. 

A google doc is linked below and must be completed by a caregiver - we must know how students are getting home afterwards.

PTA News

Our PTA fundraiser this term is selling a range of Goodies for Christmas, some new and some old favourites!

The 3 Product ranges available are:
  • Cured Salamis
    - One size, 4 flavors + Biersticks, all $20 each
    - Venison
    - Garlic 
    - Pepperoni
    - Spicy 

    All Salamis and biersticks are Gluten, Dairy and MSG free.  Find out more at www.cured.nz
  • Panfortes from Pilgrim
    - 250g Panforte $20
    - 1kg Panforte $60
    Panforte is an Italian Christmas fruitcake.  Packed with walnuts, almonds, figs, mixed peel and spices.  Bought to you by Pilgrim, a business owned by a school whānau. For more information visit https://pilgrim.net.nz/
  • Fix and Fogg Peanut Butter
    - 375g Smooth Peanut Butter 
    - 375g Super Crunchy Peanut Butter
    - 275g Everything Butter
    - 275g Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter
    All jars are $8.00 each. Please note they are smaller jars than the last fundraiser.
The link for the online order form is below, there will not be any paper order forms this time.  


There is a very short time frame on this fundraiser.  Orders close: 6pm, Sunday the 13th of November 2022. 

Pick up will be from the PTA stall outside the hall after school from 6 December and will be advertised on Hero and the PTA Facebook page.

Thanks for your supporting the Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto PTA! 

Community Notices

(Notices placed here are contingent on space and do not reflect the views or opinions of the school.)

World Sustainable Toy Day

The global toy industry produces 1 million tonnes of waste annually. At the same time, 75% of kids are worried about their future because of climate change and the oceans are in a plastic-waste crisis.

Toys shape how our tamariki see and interact with the world, which gives us the opportunity and responsibility to use play to help them become more climate confident. We can leave them a better legacy than ocean waste and toys they lose interest in after just one week!

That’s why the team at Sustained Fun, creators of the reusable water balloon, EcoSplat, created World Sustainable Toy Day to be celebrated annually on the 3rd Friday of November (one week before Black Friday). 
Do you have toys that have been in your family for generations? Toys that your kids have played with for years? Toys that your kids have used in many different ways? Record a video or take photos of you and your kids with favorite' toys that last', tag us in your social media posts #WorldSustainableToyDay November 18th. 

Share or follow them Facebook https://www.facebook.com/WorldSustainableToyDay 

TMC Trucking Industry Show

A fantastic family event is coming up on Saturday, November 26th at the Canterbury Agricultural Park in Christchurch. The TMC Trucking Industry Show is New Zealand’s largest Trucking Festival and there is so much going on, making it heaps of fun for the whole family! Kids are FREE and all kids activities at the show are FREE too! Adults are just $10 entry.

There are so many activities for the kids – plan to stay all day! These include:
  • The largest truck bouncy castle in the world – a 22m long truck obstacle course (for kids over 10 years old)
  • The Mega truck bouncy castle 14m long!
  • The Carter Tyre Run – race through the tyre run in the quickest time to win prizes at the end of the show
  • Road Metals Giant Sand Pits with hidden treasure– one for the little-ies and one for kids over 8 years old. Did for treasure and win prizes!
  • The Valvoline Road Safety Scooter Track – grab a pedal kart or scooter and race around the track, learning some fun road rules at the same time
  • Activities Chill Tent – including colouring-in competitions for all ages
  • Trucking 9-hole Mini-golf course – grab a putter and make it round the trucks to beat your family and friends
  • People’s Choice – vote for your favourite truck, it’ll be pretty hard to pick from the 400 trucks on display!
  • The RC Haulers Radio Control Trucks – these miniature trucks have amazing detail and will be driving around a huge Trucking Village
There will be plenty to see and do at the show, with industry competitions also taking place including the TR Group NZ Truck Driving Championships, the Palfinger Crane Competition, Liebherr All-terrain Crane Competition and the NZ Forklift Competition.

Over 400 big shiny trucks will be on display, so walk around and vote for your favourite in the People’s Choice competition. There will be plenty of food vendors, coffee, ice cream and sheltered areas to relax, as well as the huge Monstavision screen where you can sit and watch the excitement from the industry competitions. The Show Shop will have a great selection of truck toys and remote control trucks available from just $30 – arrive early as these sell out fast.

This event only comes around every 2 years – so come along on Saturday November 26th and enjoy a family-friendly, affordable day out (please leave your furry family members at home).

Adult Tickets can be purchased online and grab your free kids tickets here too: Tickets for 2022 TMC Trucking Industry Show - Christchurch - Eventfinda


Kōwhai News Term 4 Week 3

Posted on by

Kia ora e te whānau,

We have had an amazing and busy couple of weeks. I think you would all agree that your tamariki demonstrated great skills, persistence and patience at our recent Athletics Day. It was lovely to see all the parents and grandparents who were able to make it. Thank you for your support. We have been so lucky with the weather lately!








SwimSafe Programme

Reminder: In weeks 3 and 4 this term (from 31st October to 10th November), the SwimSafe programme will run every day for these two weeks.

Timetable at school in swimming weeks:
Lunch Eating: 12 - 12:20 pm
Lunch Play: 12:20 - 12:40 pm
Year 3 children: Bus at 1 pm. Arrive back at 2:30 pm
Year 4 children: Bus at 1:30 pm. Arrive back at 3:00 pm

SwimSafe Fun

We are delighted to have started the SwimSafe programme provided by Pioneer. Our tamariki are loving the challenge and have already grown in confidence. The very experienced tutors were able to group them according to their swimming ability and lessons got underway swiftly! It looks so much fun that the teachers would like to jump in too (particularly in this weather).








Laura 

As you may have noticed, our lovely Laura is expecting a baby and her final day of teaching will be on Thursday, November 10th. Laura will then be on maternity leave. We are all going to miss her 
so much but we know that she is embarking on a great life-changing adventure. We wish Laura and Steven all the best (including the perfect baby that always sleeps) and know that they are going to be wonderful parents.


We wish you a lovely weekend.

Ngā mihi nui.

The Kōwhai team